Republic of Omisha

Chapter 55: Eliza

  Sandra gives her a countdown on her fingers from five. Once she's done it's Eliza's turn to talk. Talk. It sounds so casual. When in reality it's anything but.

She takes a deep breath and begins. "People of Omisha. My name is Eliza Spero. I know that you are all afraid right now, but I have good news."

Her voice stays steady and commanding as she continues. She explains how they should proceed and that one vessel will be on the east coast and the other on the west. More people live on the east coast so the ship will be docked there. She tells the people to make their way accordingly.

Sandra flies the ship to the east coast and then travels back to the west. The flight only takes two hours, but already they have lost miles of land inward from the coastline.

People are lined up and ready to board. All of the rebels work hard in assigning each family a living quarters and allowing them to board in a timely fashion. More people flood in all day and night. It is a sleepless, restless night for the working rebels. By the next morning, everyone has made their way onto the vessels and they take off.

Now that everyone is safe, they are taxed with the job of coming up with a leadership system. The final life count is five million two hundred seventy-five thousand four hundred sixty-three. They lost almost a million people in the last two days of decay.

The rebels, if they can even still be called that, are currently the leaders, but they need to come up with a structure of a form of government. Eliza is obviously one of the candidates for a leadership position, but before she can focus on moving forward she has a few loose ends to tend to.

She walks the corridors, section by section, until she arrives at the brig. She has come to visit her uncle. He is her last tie to her past and the only living member of the republic delegates.

Eliza has an incoming call on her com that sits in her left ear. She knows who it is and she doesn't need Clay trying to talk her out of seeing her uncle. She ignores the call and the ringing soon ends.

She stops dead in her tracks outside of Liam's cell. She takes a shuddering breath. She's looking at a man who's no longer lives in luxury as a republic leader, who no longer has the respect he once had, and who is sitting behind one-way glass, sitting on a bench, his arms in his lap with an unnerving smirk on his face.

Eliza watching her uncle on the other side of the glass. He lost. He's held under lock and key and being tried on charges of treason. What does he have to smile about? Why is he smiling?

He sits there unwavering, staring at the far wall of his cell. Eliza can't take it any longer. She types in a four number password and the door unlocks with a click. It opens long enough for Eliza to enter and slides closed behind her.

She stands still, watching Liam. She stands a yard away from him and he hasn't acknowledged her presence.

He sighs and says without moving anything but his mouth, "You came alone."

Eliza tries not to show it, but she is concerned by how he knows that. It wasn't even a question. He knows she's alone.

"No, I'm not. They're on the other side of the glass right now, recording this conversation." She lies as convincingly as she can.

He laughs. "No, there aren't 'others' watching this."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Other than the fact than how you referred to them as 'others'?" He snickers. "They wouldn't let you in here to talk to me."